TOP 10 STORIES OF THE DECADE

Not only is 2009 the end of a year, but it’s also the end of a Decade. Quite a lot has happened since we rang in the 2000 millennium 10 years ago.

SO HERE NOW ARE THE TOP 10 STORIES OF THE DECADE:

10.)   NOTABLE DEATHS – We lost several world citizens in the past decade.  Some of the more notable names include former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, Pope John Paul II, Music icons Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, James Brown, and civil rights icon Coretta Scott King.

9.)   AIDS ADVANCEMENT – There still is no cure for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, also known as A.I.D.S., but it is no longer the instant death sentence it once was.  AIDS has become a manageable disease, like Diabetes or High Blood Pressure, with modern medicine providing life extending advancements.

8.)  HANGING CHADS:  Bush vs Gore – It was an unforgettable election.  In 2000, Vice-President Al Gore was pitted against Texas Gov. George W. Bush for President of the United States.  With a razor thin margin, Bush was declared the winner — only to later discover a myriad of election discrepancies, including African-American voters being turned away in some locations, voting machine malfunctions, and the infamous “hanging chads” in Florida.  The result caused an historical hand recount that took weeks, delayed naming an official winner, and forced the involvement of the U.S. Supreme Court.  George W. Bush was eventually certified as the President-elect amid questions and scandal, forcing a bitterly divided nation to find common ground and healing.

 

7.)  WELCOME TO THE INTERNET – It’s hard to believe, but Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and individual personal websites did not exist 10 years ago in the year 2000.  But since that time, the internet is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.  We prefer Email over “snail-mail,” we do our banking and bill payments online, and we keep in touch with family and friends via instant messaging, video conferencing, and social networking.  Wireless internet access is now a staple in most every home, hotel, and even some restaurants and coffee houses.  Anyone 10 years old or younger will never know what the world was like before the web.

6.)   HIGH TECH ADVANCEMENTS –  Remember 10 years ago when we all traveled with a case loaded with 100 CD’s? Our cars had CD Changers in the trunk or built into the dashboard, and a CD/DVD Player was the centerpiece of every home entertainment system. Then along came the iPod, which changed the world.  Suddenly, music and video was no longer something you needed a hard copy to access.  They were now all data files, neatly stored inside a box the size of a cigarette case, which we could buy with the click of a button on the internet (so long Tower Records and other brick-and-mortar music stores).  From the iPod, the iPhone was born, which revolutionized the way we communicate and basically killed the local phone company and their landline home telephone. 
But Vonage, Skype, MagicJack, and other internet phone companies emerged, showing us how to use the internet to make local and international telephone calls for virtually nothing. The old and outdated Video Cassette Recorders also died a needed death, replaced by TiVo and other DVR machines.  And Flat-Screen Plasma or LCD televisions an inch thick and capable of hanging on a wall, replaced the old boxy television sets with the huge picture tube.

5.)   IRAQ WAR – Said to have been a personal vendetta to avenge a failed attack on his father, George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush launched a first strike attack against Iraq.  The invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, leaving our military to police the now “wild wild west” like nation with an occupation that exists still to this day.

4.)   ECONOMIC COLLAPSE – After enjoying the rich financial “bling-bling” mentality of the 90’s, the U.S. hit an economic implosion in 2008 that forced the world’s richest nation into a deep recession. Homes were foreclosed, banks and major corporations failed, job losses prevailed, and the U.S. found itself on the brink of a national collapse only rivaled by the Great Depression of 1929.

3.)   HURRICANE KATRINA – On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico, causing devastation to parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.  But days later, the levees broke in New Orleans, causing massive flooding and unbelievable death and destruction. President George W. Bush and his FEMA representatives were criticized after hundreds of the mostly African-American citizens were shown on national television, trapped on their roof tops and begging for help and rescue.  It took the federal government a week to get help to the people of New Orleans, many of whom had been trapped for days without food or water at the Superdome, or were floating dead in contaminated waters that had overtaken the city.  Nearly 2000 lives were lost in this, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

2.)   BARACK OBAMA – He has been called the greatest politician in modern history.  And he is the first African-American President in U.S. history.  Barack Obama changed the game of politics with an innovative internet presence, an unmatched grassroots effort, and a charismatic oratory skill that could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.  Never in the history of American politics has there been lines 2-3 miles long, filled with voters who may have never voted before, waiting patiently to cast their ballot for the motivational Obama.  His candidacy was historic and unprecedented, teaching young African-American boys and girls that anything is possible.  YES WE CAN!

1.)   9/11 – September 11, 2001.  It was the greatest terrorist attack on American soil in U.S. history.  The coordinated suicide attacks led by mastermind Osama Bin Laden, used jet aircraft as torpedo weapons against the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, with a 3rd plane thought to have been headed for the U.S. Capitol or White House, crash landing in a Pennsylvania field.  Nearly 3000 lives were lost, permanently changing the way we live and travel.  On 9/11 America changed.  It will never be the same.